Avenging Spider-Man #6: The Omega Effect

The big crossover with Daredevil and Punisher begins here, with an invasion of Matt Murdock's privacy.

I was a little worried when the creative team for Avenging Spider-Man decided to step back for Mark Waid and Greg Rucka. Thus far, Avenging has been one of the best new titles to come out of Marvel and with the house of ideas famous for perfecting things into failures my worrywart grew bigger. Thankfully, Avenging Spider-Man #6 is not just awesome, it is the ass kicking, slap fighting, nut punching start to "The Omega Effect."

So what is The Omega Effect? To understand, you must read the new Daredevil series, where the Man Without Fear managed to get ahold of a hard drive made from the material of an old Fantastic Four suit. This drive is not only firewalled on a molecular level, it also holds top-secret info on all the major crime organizations. Hydra, A.I.M., Black Spectre, Agence Byzantine and The Secret Empire. In the most recent issue of Daredevil, old horn head made fast work of the Black Spectre organization, so all parties know how serious he is.

Cue the start of Avenging Spider-Man #6, where Spidey is asked by Reed Richards to try and recover the data from Daredevil. The first page begins with Spider-Man battling Hand ninjas who are trying to reap the rewards of acquiring the drive. Writing super team Mark Waid and Greg Rucka have decided that pure action is the recipe here. This issue never stops moving, even during dialog scenes the energy remains high. As Spider-Man battles the Hand outside Matt Murdock’s office, the meeting inside is even more interesting.

Punisher. Yep, our friendly neighborhood psychopathic vigilante has dropped by to see Daredevil in order to get his hands on the drive. He figures when he has it he’ll be able to mass murder crime into extinction. Daredevil has other ideas and the Punisher uses his usual tact and charm to try and get what he wants. By the end of Avenging Spider-Man #6, the three heroes have battled a battalion of ninjas and decided to partner up and bring the show to the remaining organizations. That part of "The Omega Effect" will be played out in Daredevil and The Punisher.

This is an awesome little side story in the middle of all the Avengers Vs. X-Men hoopla. No crazy tie ins, no huge life altering story arcs, just our heroes swinging into danger to try and thwart evil. Mark Waid always writes these stories wonderfully and Greg Rucka helps punch it up with a modern feel. I don’t know which writer penned Spider-Man’s dialog, but it’s spot on. Both men keep the action flowing and the energy high. As big as the story is, it never loses the fun and I’m always a big champion of that.

Marco Checchetto does some really nice work here. He keeps the art moving at the same pace as the writing. Action busts right off the page and out of panel boarders. Checchetto’s faces aren’t my favorite, though The Punisher looks cool so maybe if a beard is involved the art improves. Where Checchetto shines is penciling heroes and battles. It’s pure comic book bliss. I realize that mutants in a pissing contest with Avengers is awesome, but don’t overlook the awesome sauce being drizzled richly over "The Omega Effect" and Avenging Spider-Man #6